Fund Manager To Nintendo: Let’s Make This Smartphone Thing Happen

While no one can deny Nintendo had a huge hit on its hands with the Wii, outside of the living room a very different tale has unfolded. As the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad have risen in popularity, it’s coming at the expense of Nintendo’s own portable game systems.

MacRumors is reporting that Nintendo is facing “increasing investor pressure” to port its popular games to the iPhone as well as other platforms. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has gone on the record that the company “will only make titles for its own products as long as he’s in charge” -- a decision that’s not sitting well with investors.

“The rift highlights the dilemma President Satoru Iwata faces as consumers shun Nintendo devices to play games on iPhones, iPads and Facebook Inc.’s website,” the report reveals. “The flop of the 3DS debut prompted the company to cut prices 40 percent in Japan and 32 percent in the U.S., the first time the games developer has resorted to such a move within six months of a product’s debut.”

“Smartphones are the new battlefield for the gaming industry,” explains Masamitsu Ohki, a fund manager with Tokyo-based Stats Investment Management Co. “Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform or develop something totally new.”

Alleged proof of that idea, Nintendo’s shares jumped on July 6 after former unit Pokemon Co. announced its intentions to develop a game for both the iPhone and Google Android -- the largest stock jump in almost four months. Rumors quickly began to spread that Nintendo may be softening their position on developing for competing platforms, but the company quickly threw cold water on the idea.

“They just don’t get it,” MF Global FXA Securities Ltd. said in a sales note that day, referring to Nintendo. “Sell the stock, because a management once feted for creative out-of-box thinking have just shown how behind the times they are.”

While Nintendo’s fortunes have faltered in recent months, the same cannot be said of iOS and Facebook developers, including Rovio’s Angry Birds and the popular Farmville and CityVille titles from Zynga Inc.

Comments

If nintendo made a phone that combined a simple, easy to use interface that actually had some power unlike the wii interface with a large library of games, that would do wonders for them.

Then again, it’s Nintendo’s style to concentrate their development efforts on single platform games that kick ass while other game developers usually devote 2/3 development to multiple console versions and 1/3 development to handheld versions (usually crappier) of the same game.
Something tells me nintendo isn’t going to go that route.